The problem with the Chagos Islands

Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia BIOT, Chagos Archipelago

This joint U.S. and U.K. operation is situated on a tiny atoll about 1000 miles from India and tasked with providing logistical support to forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

How It's Unique:

Diego Garcia's remoteness, though, allows it to be a key hub for tracking satellites, and it is one of five monitoring stations for GPS.

Additionally, the island is one of only a handful of locations equipped with a Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance system for tracking objects in deep space.

As an atoll, the land itself is rather oddly shaped, too.

From end to end, Diego Garcia is 34 miles long, but its total area is only 11 square miles.

From OpenDemocracy

The UK government announced on July 8th that it will commission a new study into the feasibility of resettling the Chagos Islands (British Indian Ocean Territory), one of Britain’s few remaining overseas territories and home to the exiled Chagossians.
These are the indigenous people of the archipelago who were expelled in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
The announcement is welcome news for supporters of the Chagossians’ right to return.
Nevertheless, a dangerous double standard regarding the scope of the review risks undermining the process before it has even begun.

>>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

First, some background.
In 1965, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) was carved out of Britain’s existing imperial holdings as a new colonial jurisdiction.
BIOT was endowed with a sole purpose: to serve the defence and security needs of the UK and its US ally.
Given this raison d’étre, the indigenous inhabitants of BIOT were deemed surplus to requirements by both London and Washington.
In a shameful episode told elsewhere, officials knowingly misrepresented the Chagossians as migrant workers, as a prelude to their forced deportation.
Ever since, the Chagossians have campaigned for a restoration of their right to return.

The government has always opposed the Chagossians’ claims, chiefly at the behest of US military planners who prize the seclusion that Diego Garcia provides.
In 2002, however, the government’s case against resettlement was buttressed by a supposed feasibility study that found resettlement of the “outer” Chagos Islands – that is, the islands other than Diego Garcia – to be impracticable and prohibitively expensive.
It now appears that this report was manipulated by government officials bent on blocking resettlement.

It goes without saying that the upcoming feasibility study must be undertaken with a truly open mind and free from political interference.
But there is an additional caveat that must also be adhered to: the study must be geared solely towards unearthing the truth about the feasibility of resettlement of BIOT.

This might sound uncontroversial, but there are several reasons for concern.
It is no exaggeration to say that, over the past five decades, the Pentagon’s designs for Diego Garcia have driven the way that the entire jurisdiction is organised and governed – including the expulsion and continued exile of the Chagossians.
Moreover, in 2010 a small but passionate and highly organised – and well-resourced – group of environmental scientists and conservationists persuaded the government to proclaim a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in BIOT.
Between them, the US military and conservation groups have managed to frame BIOT as something other than a homeland.
To policy-makers, BIOT is a military asset or a chance to brandish “green” credentials. It is less and less the home of an exiled people.

 Naval support facility (NSF) for US Navy

>>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

It is unquestionable that military-security and environmental concerns pertain to BIOT.
The future of the territory is not simply an issue of whether the Chagossians are able to resettle there.
Nor should anybody pretend otherwise.
Yet it is absolutely critical that the study be conducted without prejudice or deference to either of these issue-areas.
To do otherwise would be to bias the study against resettlement from the outset.

Allowing military-strategic or environmental considerations to pollute the feasibility study would also be double standards.
Consider, for example, the government’s public consultation on whether to establish the Chagos MPA.
Whitehall made clear in its consultation document that any decision regarding the MPA would be made “without prejudice” to the Chagossians’ right of return.
Respondents to the consultation were encouraged to divorce the issues – supporting environmental protection in BIOT, the public was assured, did not entail a rejection of the Chagossians’ human rights.
The two issues were neatly compartmentalised, presented as distinct and discrete from one another.

Of course, it borders on the absurd to suggest that London and Washington have taken the Chagossians’ concerns into account when making decisions regarding the creation, expansion and continuation of the US base on Diego Garcia.
Nor did either government consider issues of environmental protection when blasting and dredging Diego Garcia’s lagoon or paving a runway big enough to accommodate a space shuttle.

Instead, military-security and environmental issues always have been scrutinised on their own merits without regard to the broader political milieu that envelops the Chagos Archipelago.
Such single-mindedness has allowed the strategic and environmental value of the Chagos Islands to be fully investigated and widely aired, with the proponents of the military base and advocates of the MPA alike thus being able to make their respective cases to the public and to policy-makers.
These interests have had their say.

Depriving the Chagossians of the same opportunity to have their desired future for BIOT – that is, a restoration of the right to return and permission to resettle – to be fully explored would be a double standard, another shameful chapter to an already “sordid tale”.
As such, the feasibility of resettlement must be established with reference solely to the feasibility of resettlement per se, not with reference to the US military’s interests or the views of a select group of conservationists.

At the broadest level, evaluating resettlement on its own terms means that the resettlement of Diego Garcia should not be ruled out a priori.
Everybody knows that the US would not countenance such an outcome, but any decision to bar resettlement of Diego Garcia must be made in public as a naked political move and not under the guise of impracticability.
Resettlement of the outer islands with access to the logistical and medical facilities on Diego Garcia should also be considered.
Open mindedness regarding a reformulation of the currently anti-resettlement MPA framework must be a given.

It is outrageous that the UK government maintains that BIOT is uninhabitable while thousands of US troops and auxiliary workers live in relative luxury on Diego Garcia.
Resettlement of BIOT by its indigenous population is far from impracticable.
Of course, nobody is suggesting that all of the Chagos Islands, some of which are little more than outcrops, are capable of supporting human habitation – but it is patently untrue to suggest that the territory as a whole is incapable of once again being home to the Chagossians.
The only barriers to resettlement are political in nature.

In short, the new feasibility study into resettlement must concern itself solely with facts.
Can the Chagos Islands support human habitation?
Once the facts have been established, it is the right and proper job of policy-makers to weigh the possibility of resettlement against the countervailing interests of the US military and members of the conservationist community.
If the government chooses to prioritise the “special relationship” or warty sea slugs over the rights of human beings, then it is free to do so – but only under the full glare of public accountability, that is.

Links :

• The Guardian : Britain faces UN tribunal over Chagos Islands marine reserve / Chagos Islands marine park is compatible with law, high court rules 
• JustConservation : Fortress Conservation versus Human Rights in the Indian Ocean
• Book : Eviction from the Chagos Islands (Displacement and Struggle for Identity Against Two World Powers) 
• HuffingtonPost : Forty Years of Heartbreak: Let the People of Diego Garcia Return to their Homeland (Island of shame, David Vine)
• YouTube : Stealing a Nation, a Special Report by John Pilger
• NOAA : The Chagos Islands - The World's Largest Marine Protected Area
• GeoGarage blog : Fury of Chagos islanders as Britain creates world’s largest marine nature reserve

San Salvador island, a Bahamas kitesurf paradise

Columbus Isle Kitesurf Paradise from Charlotte Consorti

 >>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

San Salvador Island, also known as Watlings Island, is an island and district of the Bahamas.

It is widely believed that during Christopher Columbus' first expedition to the New World, San Salvador Island was the first land he sighted and visited on 12 October 1492; he named it San Salvador after Christ the Saviour.

Columbus' records indicate that the native Lucayan inhabitants of the territory, who called their island Guanahani, were "sweet and gentle".

Ancient voyages to America - Who were the first explorers?

Who were the first people to discover America?

Historical evidence uncovers the myth of Christopher Columbus being the first to America.

This documentary explores the evidence of Ancient Civilizations visiting North America long before Columbus. Chinese, Egyptian, Viking explorers all traveled to the New World.

Amazing map shows the past 170 years of hurricanes to hit Earth - and how the Northwestern Atlantic has been ravaged by some of the world's most vicious cyclones

It may look like a work of art at first glance, but this is the amazing image that reveals the past 170 of hurricanes around the globe.
Produced by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it reveals exactly where in the world is worst hit.
The image charts 11,967 tropical cyclones that have occurred on Earth since the NOAA began keeping a record in 1842, when data was supplied by ships and lighthouses rather than today’s advanced satellite detection systems.
Interactive map: Using the map on the right hand-side, zoom in on a particular location or zoom out to see a global view.
You can then click on the 'Hurricanes' or 'Country Strikes' tabs on the top right to view the frequency and path of all hurricanes in that particular area.
The key on the top right corresponds to hurricane strength and the number of hits in that area since 1842.
The frequency of track overlaps is much lower in the Western Hemisphere than in the Eastern Hemisphere
In contrast, an intensity map shows the Northwestern Atlantic has had a much greater spread of strong storms

From DailyMail

‘Before the advent of the satellite era, hurricane tracks were constructed from ship reports – and although reliable, some storms were probably missed, the NOAA admits.
‘Geostationary satellites, such as NOAA’s GOES, revolutionised the ability of meteorologists to track cyclones,’ the map-makers explain.
Not a single storm is missed as these eyes in the sky provide consistent scans of the globe every few minutes.’
The group has also released an interactive map that allows you to zoom in on specific areas in the world and view hurricanes based on their frequency and path in the area.
The team used colours to make patterns in the storms more obvious.
By colouring how many times any storm track overlapped another, patterns arose in the density of storms affecting a given area, the team found.

By colouring how many times any storm track overlapped another, certain patterns arise in the density of storms affecting a given area.
Cyclone tracks overlapped the most in the western Pacific and Bay of Bengal (India), where typhoon season never ends since waters are always warm enough to sustain cyclone formation.
The frequency of track overlaps is much lower in the Western Hemisphere

Cyclone tracks overlapped the most in the western Pacific and Bay of Bengal (India), where typhoon season never ends since waters are always warm enough to sustain cyclone formation.
The frequency of track overlaps is much lower in the Western Hemisphere than in the Eastern Hemisphere.
They also produced a second map showing storm intensity.
In contrast to the first image of frequency, the Northwestern Atlantic shows a much greater spread of strong storms, whereas in the Pacific the strongest cyclones seem to group near the Philippines.

This map shows storm intensity, providing an interesting contrast to storm frequency.

Here, the Northwestern Atlantic shows a much greater spread of strong storms, whereas in the Pacific the strongest cyclones seem to group near the Philippines 

Links :

• Wired : 170 Years of the World’s Hurricane Tracks on One Dark and Stormy Map
• NOAA : revisits historic hurricanes (IBTrACS)
• AmetSoc : The International best track archive for climate stewardship (IBTrACS): Unifying Tropical Cyclone Data

New York at risk from combination of rising seas and stronger hurricanes, experts warn

The NOAA agency's larger map indicates that sea levels
near New Orleans increased at a rate of 9.24 millimeters a year between 1947 and 2006 — three feet over the course of a century. 

From NYDailyNews

Projections by the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers show that much of the five boroughs will be submerged if another strong hurricane hits New York in the year 2100.

 In its forthcoming report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that sea level could rise by as much as six feet by the end of the century.

photo : Stephen Wilkes (National Geographic)

Thanks to rising seas brought on by global warming, New Yorkers can count on a very wet, deadly, and expensive future.
Based on projections from the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, if a storm equivalent in strength to Hurricane Sandy were to hit the five boroughs in the year 2100, vastly larger swaths of the city would be submerged.
The reason is simple.

Sea levels are forecast to rise by as much as six feet before the end of the century, making low lying cities like New York all but defenseless to the wrath of powerful storms.

 Given the dire predictions on how fast sea level is rising, New York could face annual flood costs of $2 billion per year.

In its September issue, National Geographic spoke with several experts who proposed ways to try and protect the city.

Unfortunately, over the past decade, scientific projections on sea level rise have grown rapidly as more data on climate change has continued to be analyzed.
Six years ago. the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate that by 2100 sea level would rise by a maximum of 23 inches. In a draft of this year’s report, the final version of which is to be released this fall, the IPCC revised that outlook to a maximum of six feet.
“In the last several years we’ve observed accelerated melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica,” Radley Horton, a research scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York City, told National Geographic in its September issue. “The concern is that if the acceleration continues, by the time we get to the end of the 21st century, we could see sea-level rise of as much as six feet globally instead of two to three feet.”

 Hurricane Sandy, which killed 43 people, caused an estimated $19 billion in damages in New York.
photo : Iwan Baan (National Geographic)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed that the city spend $19.5 billion to mount a defense against rising seas, roughly the same amount New York faced in losses as a result of Hurricane Sandy (43 people died in the city because of the storm).
Whether the mayor’s plan will be embraced before he leaves office, or will be championed by his successor, remains to be seen.
“Eventually the city will have to face up to this, because the problem is going to get worse,” Malcolm Bowman, a physical oceanographer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, told National Geographic. 

“It might take five years of study and another ten years to get the political will to do it. By then there might have been another disaster. We need to start planning immediately. Otherwise we’re mortgaging the future and leaving the next generation to cope as best it can.”
In the absence of bold new measures, including the construction of massive storm surge barriers, the financial toll the city faces from rising sea levels in the not too distant future is more than a little daunting.
A new study by Nature Climate Change estimates that New York City faces about $2 billion in annual losses from flooding in 2050.

Links :

• Sea Level Rise Tool for Sandy recovery